CHANTABURI, 9 September 2014 – Prawns in Chantaburi province are experiencing a stage of shock due to changing water conditions as a result of continuous rainfall.
The phenomena has caused farmers to quickly sell off their prawn supply before risking further damage, in case they are reluctant to sell them now while they are still alive.
Several days of heavy rains have caused black tiger prawn owners to face huge problems after some of them have been found floating to the surface and changing color, forcing owners to quickly sell their catch before the appropriate timing. Some prawns were then sold below the market price.
A prawn farm owner stated that among her 4 ponds that were 2 months old, prawns were beginning to float and die due to their inability to cope with extreme temperature changes in the water. Damages were estimated at around several hundred thousand baht.
Owners had to hire workers to collect the shocked prawns and send them to middlemen to be sold. Prawns should normally be kept until 4 months but this time they were only 2 months old, immediately lowering the prices of prawn from the original 200-300 baht down to only 126 baht per kilogram.
